PolitiFact N.J.: Chris Christie claims Rutgers football had best graduation rate in its division under Greg Schiano

There are critics of Greg Schiano's time as the head coach of Rutgers University's football team. Gov. Chris Christie isn't one of them.

The governor defended the coach during a recent interview on New Jersey 101.5's "Ask the Governor" program. Christie said Schiano, who just left the state university to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, turned Rutgers football around, both on the field and off.

"Here's something that people never talk about with coach Schiano: Rutgers had the best graduation rate of any Division I football program in America," Christie said during the Jan. 31 radio interview.

PolitiFact New Jersey found the governor is wrong. Rutgers once took the top spot in its division for another measure of academic progress, but the team never had the best graduation rate in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-A.

Read our False ruling at PolitiFactNJ.com and then join the conversation about it at NJ.com.

John Munson/The Star-LedgerFormer Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano greets Gov. Chris Christie at the governor's inaugural celebration in Newark in 2010. PolitiFact New Jersey rated a claim by Christie that Rutgers football had the best graduation in its division under Schiano False.